The Present Disclosure relates to a cooling device for refrigerating an electronic substrate, as well as the heating element mounted on the substrate and in contact therewith, and further relates to the substrate and an electronic device equipped with the cooling device.
Heating elements and electronic components, such as semiconductor integrated circuits, LED elements and power devices, have been used for electronic devices, industrial equipment, automobiles or the like. When the temperature in the elements or the components becomes higher than a constant, a problem may occur in that that operation thereof can not be guaranteed. As a result, an influence on other parts, as well as performance degradation of the elements, components or the industrial apparatus themselves, may be also caused. In many cases, the elements and the components, which generate the heat, are mounted on an electronic substrate.
In order to cool these elements and components, a heat sink, including a plurality of fins and/or a liquid-cooled jacket is provided. However, there is a space limit where the heat sink, the liquid-cooled jacket or similar device are disposed, due to the downsizing of the electronic devices and industrial equipment in recent years. In addition, electronic substrates are highly integrated in electronic devices and the industrial equipment. As such, it is advantageous to provide a cooling device that cools the substrates with high efficiency.
When cooling the heating element, the technology of improving the thermal contact between a cooling device and a target has been proposed. As an example, see Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-077434 (“the '434 Application”). The technology of providing a heat pipe on the front surface of an target has been also proposed, with the heat pipe combining a heat receiving unit that takes heat from an electronic part, a transporting unit that transports heat from the heat receiving unit and a heat radiating unit that radiates the transported heat with fins. As another example, see Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-037001 (“the '001 Application”).
There are, however, problems with the conventional technology. The technology disclosed in the '434 Application is inapplicable to electronic devices required to be downsized or thinned. This is because the technology needs a compression member, such as a blade spring, in addition to the cooling device. Furthermore, according to the disclosure of the '434 Application, a plurality of electronic substrates cannot be cooled efficiently. In addition, according to disclosure of the '434 Application, it is also difficult to diffuse heat received from the heating element inside the electronic devices that have only narrow spaces.
The technology disclosed in the '001 Application is also inapplicable to downsized electronic devices. This is because heat taken from the heating element is radiated from a radiating unit via a connection path, and the cooling device is required to be large. In addition, when a plane-spreading heat pipe is equipped with an electronic part having a predetermined shape and structure, the heat pipe may not match the shape and a structure of the substrate.
As mentioned above, conventional cooling devices cannot simultaneously and efficiently cool a number of electronic substrates without disturbing downsized electronic devices and the industrial equipment that the substrates are mounted therein. Furthermore, in conventional systems, heat received from the substrate or the element cannot efficiently be radiated.
In view of the above-mentioned problems, an object according to the Present Disclosure is to provide a cooling device, an electronic substrate and an electronic device that can optimally and efficiently cool a number of electronic substrates mounted in a narrow space.